Ancient Music - A Zaluzi To The Gods (Hurrian Hymn 6)

Ancient Sumerians/Egyptians/Greeks -- a reconstruction of the few
fragments of actual music that survived the ancient world, played on
period instruments.
Ancient music is music that developed in literate
cultures, replacing prehistoric music. Ancient music refers to the
various musical systems that were developed across various geographical
regions such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, India, China, Greece and
Rome. Ancient music is designated by the characterization of the basic
audible tones and scales. It may have been transmitted through oral or
written systems.
Among the Hurrian texts from Ugarit are some of the
oldest known instances of written music, dating from c.1400 BC. A
reconstructed hymn is replayed at the Urkesh webpage. Kilmer's tentative
decipherment of the cuneiform tablets from Ugarit indicate that the
simultaneous sounding of different pitches may have been practiced very
early, perhaps by 2000 BCE.
Ancient Greek musicians developed their
own robust system of musical notation. The system was not widely used
among Greek musicians, but nonetheless a modest corpus of notated music
remains from Ancient Greece and Rome. The epics of Homer were originally
sung with instrumental accompaniment, but no notated melodies from
Homer are known. Several complete songs exist in ancient Greek musical
notation. The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving complete musical
composition from the Greek tradition or from any tradition. Three
complete hymns by Mesomedes of Crete (2nd century CE) exist in
manuscript. In addition, many fragments of Greek music are extant,
including fragments from tragedy, among them a choral song by Euripides
for his Orestes and an instrumental intermezzo from Sophocles' Ajax.
Romans did not have their own system of musical notation, but a few
Romans apparently learned the Greek system. A line from Terence's Hecyra
was set to music and possibly notated by his composer Flaccus.[citation
needed]
It has always been known that some ancient music was not
strictly monophonic.[citation needed] Some fragments of Greek music,
such as the Orestes fragment, clearly call for more than one note to be
sounded at the same time. Greek sources occasionally refer to the
technique of playing more than one note at the same time. In addition,
double pipes, such as used by the Greeks and Persians, and ancient
bagpipes, as well as a review of ancient drawings on vases and walls,
etc., and ancient writings (such as in Aristotle, Problems, Book XIX.12)
which described musical techniques of the time, all indicate harmony
existed. One pipe in the aulos pairs (double flutes) may have served as a
drone or "keynote," while the other played melodic passages.
Although
music existed in prehistoric Egypt, the evidence for it becomes secure
only in the historical (or "dynastic" or "pharaonic") period--after 3100
BCE. Music formed an important part of Egyptian life, and musicians
occupied a variety of positions in Egyptian society. Music found its way
into many contexts in Egypt: temples, palaces, workshops, farms,
battlefields and the tomb. Music was an integral part of religious
worship in ancient Egypt, so it is not surprising that there were gods
specifically associated with music, such as Hathor and Bes (both were
also associated with dance, fertility and childbirth).